[Njtechdiv] BARD app for Android

[Mario]

article I found from another ml I subscribe to. thought it might be of 
interest to some:

Mobile for Android: android for bard

block quote
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2015 17:00:42 -0700

From: dan Thompson [
<mailto:dthompson5 at mchsi.com>


Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2015 10:29 AM
To: dan Thompson
Subject: BARD Mobile for Android: It's Finally Here, Dan's tip for July 
15 2015

    *
BARD Mobile for Android: It's Finally Here

<http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw160703>
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw160703

(links inserted by Dan)

Bill Holton

Talking Books from the
<http://www.loc.gov/nls/index.html>
Library of Congress National Library Service have changed format several 
times since the first recordings back in 1931, from recorded disks to 
cassette
tapes to digital flash cartridges that could be played with a free NLS 
player. Along the way NLS licensed the makers of several devices, most 
notably the
Victor Reader Stream and the APH BookPort, to enable direct download of 
titles and Talking Book playback. With the advent of accessible mobile 
devices,
however, many NLS patrons found themselves having to cart around two 
devices--their mobile phone or tablet to stay in touch, read Audible and 
Bookshare
titles, navigate with GPS, and other essential tasks--and a second 
device to play their Talking Books. This state of affairs was cumbersome 
and, for many,
reason enough to begin relying on other resources for reading matter.

In September of 2013 NLS released version 1.0 of the
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bard-mobile/id705229586?mt=8>
BARD Mobile app for iOS,

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bard-mobile/id705229586?mt=8

which ran on iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. Using this app, NLS 
patrons could quickly scan newly added books and magazines, download 
them to their devices,
then listen to, bookmark, and navigate their way through the entire NLS 
digital collection. As an iPhone and iPad user, I was thrilled. Android 
users still
had to use a separate device to play Talking Books, but finally, with 
the recent release of the BARD Mobile for Android app,

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.loc.nls.dtb&hl=en>
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.loc.nls.dtb&hl=en

they, too, now have a single-device reading solution.

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.loc.nls.dtb&hl=en>
BARD Mobile for Android is available from Google Play for devices 
running Android version 4.1 Jelly Bean or later. The app is free, but in 
order to download
and listen to BARD books and magazines you must first be registered with
<http://www.loc.gov/nls/find.html>
your local braille and talking-book library

To find your library, visit this link:

<http://www.loc.gov/nls/find.html>
http://www.loc.gov/nls/find.html

or call 1-800-NLS-READ to apply for service.

Once registered, you will be provided with a login and password, which 
you will use the first time you sign into the BARD Mobile app.

Exploring the BARD Mobile for Android App

Both the Android and iOS apps feature navigation bars with Bookshelf, 
Get Books, and Now Reading, tabs running across the bottom for iOS and 
the top for
Android. The iOS version includes a Settings tab. The Android version 
places app settings in the More Options menu, where you will also find 
controls specific
to the task at hand, along with context-sensitive help and a link to 
your device's accessibility settings.

The features and functionality of BARD Mobile for Android and iOS are 
quite similar. Below, we'll take a tour of the Android app, pressing the 
"Pause"
button on occasion to point out a difference or two between it and the 
iOS version.

Get Books

The Get Books tab offers four options:
    * Browse Wish List
    * Recently Added Books
    * Recently Added Magazines
    * Browse BARD

BARD Mobile for iOS includes two additional options here: Braille Books 
and Braille Magazines. I was told by an NLS representative that they are 
waiting
for a few necessary BrailleBack feature updates before they can provide 
a workable braille reading solution.

Wish List

When you find a book you wish to read using either
<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/login/NLS>
the NLS desktop website or the Browse BARD control we will discuss soon, 
you are offered the choice to either download the title or add it to 
your wish
list. Access the app's Wish List control to display and download these 
books and magazines to your phone or tablet. As you will see, this is 
often my preferred
way of adding books to my Android device.

Recently Added Titles

The Recently Added Books and Magazines option summons a chronological 
list of new titles available in the NLS collection, along with older 
books that have
recently been made available in digital format. Long pressing any title 
calls up the annotation, and a double tap prompts you to select the 
folder into
which the book will be downloaded. This is an extremely useful feature. 
The size of Digital Talking Book (DTB) files can be several hundred 
megabytes.
Placing your titles on an SD card allows you to download dozens of books 
without using critical device memory.

The iOS app adds dates to the title lists, such as "Today," "Thursday," 
or "June 1." The Android app does not include dates, which can make it 
difficult
to know how far down to scan if you are like me and prefer checking in 
just once or twice a week to see what's new. Also, neither app uses 
heading or link
elements, so you can't change TalkBack granularity to facilitate quick 
navigation. More often than not, I find it much easier to visit the BARD 
website
and browse books there. I can use my screen reader's headings quick 
navigation key to move rapidly through the Recently Added Books and 
Magazines pages,
add books that pique my interest to my Wish List, then download them to 
my device from there.

Browse BARD

This last option opens a Web view of your regional library's website, 
which is the primary point of contact for NLS patrons. Here you can set 
TalkBack
granularity to Web Controls, Lists and Sections, which, in my 
experience, makes browsing titles using the app considerably easier than 
using the Recent
Books and Magazines controls.

Using the Browse BARD option, you can accomplish all but one of the same 
tasks that you can on the BARD desktop site, including searching for 
books by
title or author, browsing recent additions to the NLS collection, 
browsing the most popular titles, and accessing a list of titles you 
have previously
downloaded. You can't download books and magazines directly from the 
Browse Bard tab, however. Instead, add them to your wish list and then 
download them
to your device as described above.

Bookshelf

The BARD Mobile Bookshelf tab offers options to access downloaded audio 
books and magazines, along with a comprehensive User Guide for the app 
itself.
The HTML text is well formatted with headings and lists; it was easy to 
locate and review information about topics of interest. You can also 
access the
app documentation on
<https://nlsbard.loc.gov/apidocs/android/v1.0/toc.html>
the BARD website.

https://nlsbard.loc.gov/apidocs/android/v1.0/toc.html

The Audio Books and Magazine controls each provide a count of the number 
of titles currently on the device. Double tap a title to begin playback; 
long
press to call up the annotation screen, which also includes a "Play Now" 
button.

The Bookshelf's downloaded book and magazine screens each include a 
"More options menu button. Here you can sort titles by name, date, or 
recent activity.
You can create new subfolders, rename them, and move titles between 
them. This is a handy way to archive books you have finished but may 
wish to consult
from time to time. This feature is not available on the iOS version.

Titles can be side loaded, but they must be placed into the same folder 
as the rest of your BARD device library. The current app version does 
not allow
the BARD library folder to be changed without resetting the app and 
losing all of your current content.

Double tap the "Delete" button and you are presented with a checkbox 
list of titles and folders you can remove from your device. "Settings" 
and "Help"
buttons round out the selections.

Currently Reading

As mentioned above, when you open a book or magazine from the Bookshelf 
tab, the book begins to play automatically. You are placed into the Now 
Playing
screen, where touch controls emulate the hardware playback controls on 
the Digital Talking Book Player.

As with the current iOS app, BARD Mobile for Android's primary playback 
controls are positioned in three rows of three buttons each. Here's a 
quick summary
of their functions, starting at the bottom row and moving up.
    * At the bottom center, just above the device's home button, a 
button toggles between "Speed" and "Tone." Select either of these 
options and the buttons
to the left and right will "Decrease Speed/Tone" or "Increase 
Speed/Tone," depending on how the toggle is set. There are 10 tone 
settings, but on the devices
I tested, the differences between settings 1 and 10 were not extremely 
pronounced. The variable speed options range from 50 percent to 300 
percent, and
the speech was quite understandable, even at higher settings.
    * The second row includes "Rewind," Play/Stop," and "Fast Forward." 
Double tap "Rewind" or "Fast Forward" to advance five seconds in the 
desired direction;
do this twice to move ten seconds. A long press moves in larger 
increments, with announcements at various points, such as five minutes 
or one hour. The
"Play/Stop" button is located in the row's center. Playback will 
continue, even if you move to another BARD Mobile tab, return to the 
device Home screen,
open another app, or after the screen dims and/or locks. Here, the iOS 
app has a definite advantage over the Android version. Using iOS, I can 
two-finger
double tap to stop playback, then repeat the gesture to restart 
playback. I was unable to do this using the Android version, which made 
it more awkward
listening to a book when, for example, I was walking my dog and needed 
to stop playback for a minute or two at a busy intersection. Some 
versions of Android
place media controls on the Notification Bar, but they are still not as 
easy to access as the iOS two-finger double tap. There is no sleep timer.
    * The third row of buttons from the bottom, "Previous," "Jump By," 
and "Next," enable quick navigation in the desired direction. The "Jump 
By" options
differ, depending on how the title is organized, but usually include 
"Section," "Bookmark," and "Phrase."

The center buttons for each of these rows is larger than the ones to the 
left and right. The "Speed/Tone" and "Jump By" toggles are blue; the 
"Play/Stop"
button toggles from green to red, depending on which state the player is 
in. Buttons also have different shapes, square for the decrease and 
increase speed
buttons, for example, and outward pointing arrows for "Rewind" and "Fast 
Forward." These elements will be useful to many low vision users.

Additional app controls include Navigation and Bookmark, which are 
located above the nine primary playback controls. The Navigation button 
summons and
displays a list of sections, with titles where available, that you can 
use to advance immediately to the desired chapter or section. You can 
also advance
to any of the time stamped bookmarks, which are created by pressing the 
"Bookmark" button, located just above the "Next" button.

The top half of the Now Playing screen also displays time elapsed/total 
time information, along with the percentage of the title completed. 
Finally, at
the very top of the Now Playing screen, the app displays the current 
title being read, and the current chapter or article name.

Both swipe gestures and explore by touch work well to navigate the Now 
Playing screen. My only complaint is that I wish the "Play/Stop" button 
were much
larger, especially since I can't use the two-finger double tap to pause 
and resume playback.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I found accessing and playing BARD content on my Android 
devices a pleasurable experience. My biggest complaints--the lack of a 
sleep timer
and of a play/pause gesture--are both current Android accessibility 
limitations. If I were a devoted braille user, I would also lament the 
current inability
to download and read braille titles.

There is another major app feature lacking on both platforms, and which 
is not a current accessibility limitation. Both Audible and Kindle synch 
downloads,
bookmarks, and last-played positions between and among various devices 
logged into the same account. With the release of BARD Mobile for 
Android, it's
now more likely than ever that NLS patrons will wish to play content on 
more than one phone or tablet. This capability is not included in the 
latest iOS
app beta version, however, so it may be quite a while before listening 
to Talking Books becomes a truly mobile experience.